1. Advancing access and dissemination of environmental information and public participation through electronic information tools Maastricht, 1 July 2014 barbara.ruis@unep.org

2. What is UNEP Live? - UNEP’s new knowledge management platform; - focus on global, regional and national data sharing; - fully based on open standards and common tagging; - range of analytical, mapping, search, spatial info, visualisation and publishing tools; and - all in support of improved, more dynamic, interactive, on-line assessment and reporting processes. http://www.uneplive.org/

3. My Country Combines the most up-to-date information taken directly from the national provider with UNEP’s assessments, reports, analyses Users can access: Country profiles Maps and satellite imagery Core sets of indicators of env’l. performance Links to national website Access to other data providers Simple comparative toolkits Search for related publications

4. Promoting collaboration and exchange of expertise among MEAs Members MEA Information and Knowledge Management Initiative Basel CBD CITES CMS (and AEWA) ITPGR-FA Montreal Protocol Minamata Ramsar Rotterdam Stockholm UNCCD UNECE (5 MEAs) UNESCO-WHC UNFCCC Regional Seas and other regional MEAs Observers EEA (Eionet), EMG, IISD, IUCN, UNEP-WCMC, FAO

5. Promoting collaboration and exchange of expertise among MEAs “Interoperability” MEA Secretariats remain the custodians of their data Information is harvested using APIs (Application Programming Interface) Members of the MEA Information and Knowledge Management Initiative have agreed on interoperability standards related to the: Syntactical level (XML Schemas) Structural level (Odata information exchange protocol) Semantic level (MEA Controlled Vocabulary) Work is ongoing…

6. Promoting collaboration and exchange of expertise among MEAs Current projects InforMEA is the first project of the MEA IKM Initiative A further phase of InforMEA is funded by the European Union. Tools currently under development include: An electronic library of official MEA documents An E-learning introductory course into MEAs A portal on capacity building documents supporting the course and further InforMEA E-learning tools The establishment of an InforMEA Thesaurus to improve search functions of knowledge tools Information on National reporting leading eventually to platforms that are able to “speak to one another” Information on trade related information leading eventually to a “Single Window” on regulatory trade information